Until recently Joanne Curtis was living a quiet life on Sydney's northern beaches.

Then a podcast about a teacher she had an affair with when she was 16 went viral around the globe and Joanne's part in this tragic case was thrust into the limelight.

The teacher was former rugby league star Chris Dawson and not long after he started a relationship with Joanne, his wife Lynn Dawson mysteriously disappeared.

Lynette Dawson vanished in 1982. (60 Minutes)

The then-33-year-old mum of two little girls has never been heard from since.

Two coronial inquests have found Lyn was killed by a known person, her husband Chris, but no charges have ever been laid against him, with the DPP saying there isn't sufficient evidence.

He has always maintained his innocence and right from the start told friends and family Lyn just left, possibly even joining a religious cult.

Two coroners have said her husband Chris might have killed her, but he has never been charged. (60 Minutes)

A month ago, in a world exclusive, A Current Affair tracked down Chris Dawson on Queensland’s Gold Coast and asked him what had happened to his wife. Things quickly turned fiery as Chris’s brother, Paul, leaped to his defence.

Related Articles

All Chris Dawson would say was that Lyn had “left” and he welcomed the DPP’s decision to review the case once again.

Joanne Curtis went on to marry Chris, her high school PE teacher. The couple had a daughter together and moved to Queensland. However, the marriage disintegrated over the years, and Joanne eventually left Chris and returned to Sydney, fearful for her safety.

Michelle Walsh, a former classmate of Joanne's, said Joanne was "scared". (A Current Affair)

"The way she spoke, she was really, really damaged, really damaged, she'd been through a lot,” Michelle Walsh, a former friend of Joanne, told A Current Affair’s Chris Allen.

“She was scared, she was scared for herself and her daughter."

A Current Affair approached Joanne Curtis, who lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, to ask her what she knows about Lyn’s disappearance and how she feels about the man who turned her life upside down.

Joanne Curtis lived with Chris Dawson for years. (A Current Affair)

But the 54-year-old was reluctant to say anything, despite admitting in a police interview in 1998 that she was with Chris when he’d attempted to hire a hit man to kill Lyn.

Lyn’s family is hoping renewed interest in the case, following a podcast by The Australian's Hedley Thomas, could finally bring them the answers they've craved over the past three and half decades.

The podcast has prompted police to open an investigation into several Northern Beaches schools where teachers were allegedly involved in sexual relationships with students.

Joanne Walsh moved in with Chris Dawson days after Lynette disappeared. (A Current Affair)

A Current Affair spoke to a previous student of Cromer High, where Chris Dawson was a teacher.

Phil Webster said while most staff were doing the right thing, there were some rogue teachers who were openly in relationships with their teenage students.